Marriage, Inc
by Maeve H
Summary: A young Troy Bolton of 19th century New England struggles to choose between his secret affair and the girl his parents have arranged for him to wed. OoC/AT.
1. Preface

Preface & Summary

_(If you don't want to read any of my boring writing, feel free to scroll to the summary and just read that.)_

Although I really hate explaining stories like this, making a preface felt necessary because I want to try and get a few people interested before I'm on chapter 4 or something. I know I probably won't get any reviews yet but if you're interested in reading or you found something I should fix, please leave one. It's greatly appreciated.

Warnings:

**Out of Character** – not completely but most of the things in this story would never be done by the original characters.

**Alternate Timeline** – It takes place in the early 19th century.

**Practicality** – I'm checking all my facts if I'm unsure about something in the 19th century but I'm not a huge history buff and I don't have that kind of knowledge in the back of my head so I'd like to apologize ahead of time for anything that is unrealistic to the time period or area.

**Work In Progress** – I haven't written hardly anything for this story and to be honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure on the ending so it might be a while before I post the first chapter.

**Blanks** – If there's anything I can't find information on, most likely I'll avoid giving an exact name or I'll be a little vague about it but if I get the answer I'm looking for along the way, I'll mention it to avoid too much confusion.

**Rating **- I'm calling it T because, like I said, I've hardly written this but most everything I've written turns into K or K+ so the high rating is just to be safe.

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><p>Summary:<p>

Troy Bolton is the son of a successful business man who owns the largest corporation in New England, a great industrial factory that employs hundreds of men and young woman. Troy is normally obedient to his father's strict rules with the exception of occasionally sneaking out for a drink with his friends and seeing one of the adolescent female workers who he finds himself falling madly in love with. Everything is running smoothly until Troy's parents want him to marry the daughter of another wealthy family from Missouri Territory. Torn between what his father wants and what his heart longs for, Troy juggles between two beautiful woman and many deep secrets.

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><p>I got the idea for this and I thought it would work better as a fan fiction. (That's why everything's out of character and out of time etc.) I'd like to know if anyone would read this so if you're interested in checking back for chapter 1, please tell me or even add it to your alerts if you want to.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1 and a half

**A/N: I don't like writing these things (especially something this long) but I felt like anyone reading this – or possibly waiting for it – deserves an explanation. I tried to write this story, I really did, but it just didn't work for some reason. I don't know if it's because I'm so busy with school, if I have permanent writers block, or if it wasn't such a good story idea in the first place but something is keeping me from writing this. I really wanted to write it because I **_**thought**_** it was a really good idea and because I think more people signed up for alerts than any other story I have. I hope nobody's disappointed but if you want to read a little something, here's the first chapter-and-a-half that I wrote.**

Chapter 1

_Crack._ That's the noise the window made as it was slammed shut by the wind behind Troy. As if it wasn't startling enough, the window should have made more of a _thud_ noise and not a _crack_, therefore making him jump and look behind him; it was a window and not a stick. Since he was already outside, there was no use in going back make sure the unfitting noise didn't wake his father up because, if it had, he would probably be stepping his first foot through the window as his dad walked in. So Troy just kept walking.

Until he reached the large factory only a short stroll away from the Bolton Mansion where he met Sharpay like usual. After her late shift, she would always wait on the corner for Troy to appear. Most nights, like this one, Troy just walked there like a normal person. But every once in a while he would sneak up behind her and surprise her with a kiss or bring roses or any other romantic act the average young male could think of.

"Hello, stranger," Troy said, trying to sound as charming as he usually does but there was something dull about his voice on that particular September night. "It feels like it's been forever."

"It's only been a few days," Sharpay smiled flirtatiously and took his hand. "Now, how about you tell me what's wrong," she said.

The two of them began walking away from the industrial building. Troy took a long sigh, letting a large cloud of steam-like fog flow from his breath. "It's my dad. He um…" Troy struggled to explain the situation he was in. He restarted his story, "There's a large mill company in the Mideast and it's owned by a rich family. They have a daughter and in order to keep money in the family, my dad wants me to… um, marry her."

Sharpay's face looked disappointed and a little bit annoyed. "Do you want to marry her?" She said slowly.

"Of course not," Troy said, sounding shocked. "I don't even know her. Besides," he stopped to look Sharpay straight in the eyes, "I'm crazy about you, Sharpay."

She rose to her toes so she could kiss Troy for the flattering comment. He wasn't that much taller than her but she felt happy enough that she wanted to rock back and forth on her feet like her own mellow victory dance.

"What do you plan on doing?" She said when she pulled away and the two of them started walking side by side again.

"I don't know," Troy said, "I suppose my dad can't force me to marry her but I don't want to let him down. I'm hoping that he won't like her or her family."

Sharpay snorted at the remark. "Sounds a little harsh but I can't pretend like I don't wish the same thing."

Troy and her let the subject go after that and walked to the nearest park where they sat and talked for more than an hour. Maybe two. "I have to get home," Sharpay spoke with tired voice, "I have work again tomorrow." And so the two of them said their farewells and they both went back to their homes. Troy snuck in through his window but it wasn't until he turned around to shut it that he saw it; a giant crack in the glass. Immediately he started thinking of his story.

"I was playing catch with myself and my baseball hit the window."

"I just walked in and it was there."

"I tripped over my bed post and my back hit the window."

Troy was walking back and forth whispering excuses to himself until realized they best one of all. It fell shut and the glass cracked. He became slightly less hysterical when he realized that windows can fall shut without a person sneaking out in the middle of the night to see their secret girlfriend.

Chapter 2

Troy crept into the kitchen where he saw a silhouette that made him stop in his path and turn around.

"Troy, darling," his mother called before he could escape.

"Morning mom," Troy said as he slumped back to the kitchen glimpsing at his watch that read twelve o' nine.

Troy's mother was leaning against the counter, stirring a cup of tea. She asked why he was in the kitchen so late at night and Troy just gave a vague "Couldn't sleep" which wasn't a lie. Troy really couldn't sleep for the few seconds he actually tried… but he wasn't ready for his mother's response to that.

"Maybe it's because you're trying to sleep in your cloths," she said looking smug.

… **I know it isn't a good jump start but at least you're not missing much. I've thought about passing it on to somebody if anyone has an idea to get the story going. I've also thought maybe I'll come across it one day in the future and realize I have a better idea for it and start writing again. For now, I think it's safe to just forget about it even though I know that I'm probably losing a couple of followers. Thanks for reading all my boring writing. =P**


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